Part 4

I measure the progress of a community by the degree of progress which women have achieved.

B. R. Ambedkar

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Chapter 24

Ft. Drum Military Reservation
New York State.

October 2011

"Jesus." The doctor said.

"I doubt He had anything to do with it." Emily just got off the phone with Morgan, and had explained to the doctor in charge the reason behind all the children and the curious customs of these people.

The Masters were breeding them.

"That explains why they control contact." Andi said. "You never know if you're half-siblings or not. They had to keep the genetics straight."

"We're going to need whatever records they kept." The doctor said. "People are going to need to know that even if they don't discuss it openly. You know this explains the numbers we're working with; on most of these plantations every woman between 21 and 45 is pregnant or nursing. They all need medical care. At least now we know what we're dealing with."

"What about 2711?" Emily asked.

"She's not." The doctor replied. "But given the situation I don't know how they managed that."

Samaritan Medical Center
Watertown, NY

"I didn't feed her." The head Parson midwife said.

Emily and Andi had called JJ, who tracked Midwife and her two helpers down at the hospital, where she was continuing to help with the pregnant women and the newborns, given that she was the only medical care they'd ever had. Now they were talking to her over a speaker line. "You didn't feed her?" JJ asked.

"I know this is going to sound crazy but I am dammed glad we had the Master we did." Midwife said. She was a rangy older woman in a brown dress and dark red apron, the apparent uniform of her office. "He insisted we all learn our numbers and letters. Because of that I've been able to keep track over the years. If I make sure a girl gets her share of the butter and eggs and milk starting when she's about nineteen or so in about six months she'll fill in her breasts and start her monthly bleed, just as regular as clockwork. I'll keep her on that diet and some if I can until the baby is six months. Then I'll start feeding it to the baby until she's ready to go again. But if for some reason she's not, or shouldn't be having one in the first place then I won't. Keep a girl to where you can see a proper bit of rib and she'll have all the energy she needs but she'll never bleed. If they don't bleed they don't take. They can set the men to plowing her as much as they like but she'll never get planted."

"And that's what you did to 2711?" JJ asked.

"Absolutely. Have you seen that girl? There's no way I could safely get a baby out of those hips. And good thing I did too, when it was coming on to her birthday I went to Overseer and begged him to keep her out of the program. I told him that she was too small, there was no way she'd have the kind of healthy babies Master wants, but he said Master wanted her planted, and planted by that new schoolmaster. He wanted a 'brainiac baby', or so Overseer said, and that was the end of it. Well, I don't care what Master wants I wasn't going to risk Teacher's life for it, especially with that schoolmaster. I mean his bones are fine enough but he's so tall! There was no way I could get his baby through her pelvis. If a girl doesn't plant in a year she washes out, so I figured I'd just keep Teacher's diet down so she'd wash and that would be the end of it. About the time she'd wash out my apprentice would be old enough. She's a bright one and has hips like a dairy cow; I wouldn't have any problem getting his baby out of her."

"Right. Good to know, thank you."

Ft. Drum Military Reservation
New York State.

"That was the most uncomfortable interview I think I've ever heard." Emily said. "Wow."

"I know." JJ said through the phone. "I spoke to the midwife from Ashley's farm, they started trying to get her pregnant the night after she arrived."

"Is that how she got pregnant?"

"Very likely. But they didn't keep records like Parson Farm, and their overseer destroyed the..." She took a deep breath. "...the breeding logs. Ashley consented to a CVS test to determine paternity but she said if it's one of the slaves she won't press charges."

"I don't blame her, he's as much a victim as she it. Wait, if?"

"If. But I don't have the details, she's only up for so much right now."

"All right, keep up posted."

Emily rang off and looked up at Hotch. "We're going to have to interview Talitha Jensen." He said.

Emily sagged. "Great."

Now how were they going to do this?

They borrowed some office space on base, for the privacy and so this could be recorded. Emily found a chair in the middle of the room and nodded to Willow to sit across from her. Hotch hung back, concerned that she might be unwilling to speak at all to a dominant man. After a moment Andi joined them. Emily took a deep breath and tried not to think about how her feet only barely touched the floor. "Do you still want us to call you Teacher?" She asked.

"You can call me Talitha, or Tally if you prefer." She said, "Since we're not going to be teachers anymore. Although he is still a professor, isn't he?" Tally considered this a moment. "Yes, that will do. According to Professor 'Talitha' means little girl in my father's language. It's a good description."

"Right. All right Tally, we know there are some things your community doesn't talk about. But we have some questions that we need answers for. We're sorry but we have to ask." Tally nodded her acceptance so Emily continued. "We need to be very clear here. Are you and...Professor having a physical relationship?"

"A physical relationship?"

Oh hell. "Having...intercourse? Sex? Um..." This was not working. "Trying to make a baby?"

"Oh! Yes, he's been trying to plant a baby since my birthday."

And she made it sound so ordinary. "And you're sure it was him?"

"Yes. He apologized the first night, and I recognized his voice. He was very upset the next day and no one else was at the school yet so we talked about it."

He apologized. That was Spencer for you. "Now for the big question, did you agree to this happening?"

Tally took a deep breath and gave her a very patient smile. "He and I have had this discussion a few times since then."

"Oh?"

"If you're asking if I wanted to make a baby over the past few months? No. Not that I don't want a baby but if I did get planted they'd have someone else plant me as soon as it was weaned. Not something I'd even like to think about. Did I say anything or fight back? No. If you do you get to spend a few days in the Overseers house being reminded that you're not human. The last girl who did that spent weeks healing, and she's still not right in the head. So while I didn't want a baby right then I chose not to fight. But I don't think that's what you want to know."

"So what do you think I want to know?"

"You don't want to know if the time was right, or the place, or if I wanted it to be like that or I wanted JD and the others watching. I think what you to know is if we had been in a place where he could have asked if I wanted to, and I could have said yes or no, and I didn't have to worry about being punished for saying no or my baby being taken away, would I have said yes? Including the first time. You want to know if I would have chosen that person to plant my children."

"Exactly. Would you have said yes, if you could have?"

Tally beamed a smile, "Absolutely. I do love him, and I wouldn't want to with anyone else. When we made our vows I didn't know how planting babies worked, so I thought it would be him anyway and I was agreeing to that."

"Here's a question." Andi said. "Did you two ever try to make a baby anywhere other than the Night Barns."

Tally blushed harder. "No." She admitted. "But I wanted to. If we'd had the privacy I would have asked him about that. And I do plan to in the future, if he still wants to."

Andi turned to Hotch, "My professional opinion? Taking the situation into account this was a consensual relationship."

"All right," he looked over at Tally. "Thank you...Mrs. Reid."

Tally beamed. "Oh, that name works too!"